Sustain'Apple "Sustainable management of the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) risk in the fresh produce industry: the case of the apple value chain" (funding ANR; 2014-2017).

Activities in Vietnam:

Food safety management in the Chinese apple trade

Leader: Paule Moustier, CIRAD-MOISA

Participants: Xiangping Jia, Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, China;  Nguyen Thi Tan Loc, Fruit and Vegetable Research Institute, Vietnam; Delphine Marie-Vivien, CIRAD-Innovation.

Objective – To investigate what institutional mechanisms can reduce “mistrust” between China and its trade partners related to food safety

The relationships between China and importing and exporting countries in terms of food safety management influence the dynamics of apple trade:

 (i)   For importing countries of the region like Vietnam, Chinese apples have a reputation of heavy use of chemicals, particularly for appearance and conservation

 (ii)  For exporting countries like Chile and France, China imposes heavy requirements in terms of food safety (related to fruit flies).

 (iii) China has developed various food safety standards, both public, e.g., organic and green, and private (GAPs, GMPs...). There is a lack of knowledge of the impacts of complying with these various standards, in terms of farmers’ costs and benefits, relationships between farmers and buyers, and satisfaction of the partners in the transaction as regards results in terms of food safety.

Results

Knowledge of how food safety is handled in Chinese apple chains supplying French-owned supermarkets in China and exporting to Vietnam; knowledge of ways to reduce reciprocal mistrust in export-import apple trade, in particular by better complying with the standards which will have been identified as the most relevant in terms of major safety risks and the most adapted to farmers’ constraints.